Homemade Shrimp Pizza

Shake up pizza night with this weeknight-easy Buffalo Shrimp Pizza recipe! Full of flavors the whole family will love, like popcorn shrimp tossed with buffalo sauce, celery, tomatoes, two kinds of cheese and ranch dressing.

Do you have “clean out the fridge” meals once in awhile, or even weekly?

Pizza is frequently on our menu for that type of meal, because pizza (and even a crostini pizza bar) is great as a vehicle to use up extra odds and ends hanging out in the fridge (like rotisserie chicken for chicken pizza or cheeseburger pizza made with leftover ground beef).

Often, these leftover ingredients are from two or three recipes I’ve made for work, resulting in one big Frankenpizza (which is honestly how the crab rangoon pizza came about).

Celery, grape tomatoes and odds and ends of cheese often need to be used up. And we always have shrimp of some kind in the freezer, because it’s one of my daughter’s favorite foods.

While shrimp is great for an appetizer or a shrimp and crab pasta, you might not generally think of it for pizza. I’m hoping I can change your mind with this buffalo shrimp pizza recipe.

Shrimp Pizza Ingredients

• popcorn shrimp – you’ll need one box (about 14 ounces) popcorn shrimp.
• buffalo sauce – I usually use Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce, but Moore’s brand is really good (on this pizza and in healthy buffalo chicken dip), too.
• pizza dough – I generally use my recipe for homemade pizza dough, but store-bought dough is also totally fine.
• pizza sauce – you can make your own, but I just buy a jar of Rao’s brand sauce.
• mozzarella cheese – a chunk of the low-moisture kind (NOT a ball of fresh mozzarella). Shred it yourself for the best melting.
• onion – I like red onion, but white onion or even thinly sliced green onions work for this shrimp pizza, too.
• celery – such a natural pairing for anything buffalo-sauced! Extra celery can be thrown into meat sauce rigatoni.
• grape tomatoes – I think these add a touch of freshness to the shrimp pizza recipe.
• blue cheese – crumbled blue cheese works so well with the buffalo sauce (and also blue cheese mashed potatoes and steak lettuce wraps).
• ranch dressing – for drizzling over the top of the pizza, dipping, or both!

Shrimp on pizza?!? What kind should I use?

Look, I’m not getting fancy here. I’m using a box of frozen popcorn shrimp! They’re easy and delicious, and perfectly bite sized for this shrimp pizza recipe.

If you’d like to make homemade popcorn shrimp, you can absolutely do that.

Alternatively, you don’t have to bread the shrimp at all. You can simply use plain cooked shrimp for this recipe. Either use small shrimp, or cut larger shrimp into bite-sized pieces.

Whatever type of shrimp you decide to use, toss the shrimp with buffalo sauce right before adding them to the pizza. You don’t want to do it any earlier, or the shrimp will get soggy sitting in the sauce.

How to make Pizza with Shrimp

1. BAKE SHRIMP. Bake the shrimp according to package instructions, then set aside.
2. PREHEAT STONE. Place the pizza stone in the oven to preheat.
3. DOUGH. Stretch the dough into a large circle, then carefully remove the pizza stone from the oven, spray with cooking spray, and place the dough on the stone. Transfer it to the oven and bake 6 minutes.
4. SAUCE & CHEESE. Remove the crust from the oven and spread with the pizza sauce Then, top with the mozzarella and onion and return to the oven until the cheese is melted.
5. BUFFALO. Toss the shrimp with buffalo sauce (you don’t want to do this step too early, or the shrimp will get soggy).
6. ADD SHRIMP. Remove the pizza from the oven and place the shrimp evenly over the top. Return the pizza to the oven for a few minutes until the shrimp is warmed through.
7. FINISH. Top the pizza with the celery, tomatoes and blue cheese. Cut the pizza then drizzle it with ranch dressing to serve.

Try a Pizza Stone for this Buffalo Shrimp Pizza Recipe

Pizza stones are a wonderful tool to have if you’re a pizza lover because they help to achieve a crispy crust on this buffalo shrimp pizza recipe without shelling out a few thousand dollars for an actual pizza oven.

You simply throw the pizza stone in the oven as it preheats and once the oven comes up to temp you put the freshly stretched dough down on the stone and stick the stone back in the oven to crisp up the crust.

P.S. Make sure you brush up on how to clean a pizza stone to ensure it lasts a long time!

What to serve with Homemade Shrimp Pizza

If you want to serve a simple salad alongside this buffalo shrimp pizza idea, mixed greens with either citrus salad dressing or feta dressing would be ideal.

Whip up a round of brandy old fashioneds or White Claw cocktails if you’d like a drink to go along with your pizza. Or, try an agave lemonade for a zero-proof option.